Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Silence

Here is a photo of me taken on an overcast day by my wife at Half Moon Bay, California. This image captures a valuable moment and appears also on the cover of my book, "Personalizing the Psalms".

It was a blended time for us of visits with friends and of cultivating silence together. One aspect of this experience of sitting on the seawall and gazing out over and beyond the Pacific for me was to recognize Silence as Woman - as expressed in the following poem:


Silence is the teacher of how to speak.
She gives you strength when you are weak.
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Silence is the icon of your own beauty deep.
She awakens your soul from self-centered sleep.
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Silence is the ticket that gets you into the show.
She will even escort you to the very front row.
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Silence is a lover who takes you to her bed
and makes love to your soul rather than your head.
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Silence is a book written by the spiritually wise
who will help you find truth and avoid worldly lies.
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Silence is the music made in heavenly spheres
that strums and drums away all of your fears.
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Silence is the mother of new life in truth
Mary is God's fountain of eternal youth.
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2 comments:

  1. Your new profile looks great! I love the photo that accompanies this poem -- I think you should always include an image with your posts if you can.

    For me Mary's silence is always filled with waiting. She waits in hope, she waits in knowing sorrow, she waits, trusting, upon the Lord. But (with a few telling exceptions) she's silent -- pondering things in her heart.

    So for me silence really is golden (and I talk way too much) because it's the indicator of a rich interior life. And once again, Mary shows us the way.

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  2. Your characterization of Mary as a waiter, a waiting agent if you will, resonates well with me and suggests two kinds of waiting: Martha waiting and (the Bethany) Mary waiting. Martha waits on table - the Marian trait of service. Mary waits at the foot of the Lord Jesus - the Marian trait of surrender.

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